Cell-Free Massive MIMO Deployments: Fronthaul Topology Options and Techno-Economic Aspects

Furtado, Lucas; Fernandes, André Maurício Souza; Ohashi, Aline; Farias, Fabricio; Cavalcante, André; Costa, J. Goncalves Pinto Firmino Da

doi:10.23919/eucap53622.2022.9768969

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Simplified techno-economic models on UC D-mMIMO systems were recently introduced by [9] and [10]. In [9], the feasibility of using serial interconnection among TRPs was evaluated, a possible solution to reduce the number of fronthaul links and decrease network complexity. The analysis focused on a fiber-based transport network, and the results suggested that a serial interconnection can be costeffective in a tree configuration with two or three serially connected TRPs.…”

Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, neither [9] nor [11] address the dimensioning of the necessary number of TRPs concerning demands. Instead, these works circumvent this challenge by assuming a fixed number of TRPs and delving into other aspects, like transport network configuration.…”

Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This analysis should scale factors like deployment expenses and power consumption with the required computational complexity and fronthaul signaling load, quantifying costs to support different UE traffic demands. However, the field of UC D-mMIMO's techno-economics remains largely uncharted in the literature [9]- [11]. The main reason behind this fact is the novelty of UC D-mMIMO as a theoretical concept operating under a new communication paradigm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Cost Assessment Methodology for User-Centric Distributed Massive MIMO Architectures

Fernandes,

Souza,

Natalino

et al. 2024

IEEE Open J. Commun. Soc.

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User-centric (UC) distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (D-mMIMO), also known as cell-free mMIMO, is a pivotal technology for enabling future mobile communication systems. While UC D-mMIMO intrinsically follows a distributed architecture, its processing can be implemented in a distributed or centralized fashion. This paper proposes a comprehensive cost assessment methodology for UC D-mMIMO, capturing its total cost of ownership and factoring in the deployment configuration, processing implementation, computational demands, and fronthaul signaling. The methodology considers two transmission reception point (TRP) deployment strategies. The first focuses only on supporting user equipment (UE) demands, while the other fulfills these requirements and also actively strives to provide a fairer service among UEs. The proposed methodology is then used to perform a techno-economic assessment of the feasibility of centralized versus distributed processing functional splits while varying key costs and TRP capabilities, like antenna and served UE count. Results suggest that with the TRP deployment that only supports the required UE rate, distributed processing is usually the most feasible option for UE demands of up to 50 Mbps, and centralized processing is more cost-effective in other cases. Additionally, when considering the actively fairer TRP deployment, centralized processing becomes cheaper for any UE demands.INDEX TERMS Cell-free massive MIMO, feasibility analysis, network deployment, functional splits, techno-economic assessment, total cost of ownership.

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Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ) 5g and Uc D-mmimo Techno-economicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Cost Assessment Methodology for User-Centric Distributed Massive MIMO Architectures

Fernandes,

Souza,

Natalino

et al. 2024

IEEE Open J. Commun. Soc.

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“…MARSAL's distributed cell-free RAN Radio Unit is deployed based on a Serial Fronthaul topology [48][49]. The Serial Fronthaul allows a large number of cell-free APs to be interconnected in a bus topology, significantly increasing Spectral Efficiency, but with minimal cabling requirements.…”

Section: Ultra-dense Video Traffic Delivery In a Converged Fixed-mobi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Use Cases Employing a Machine Learning Network Architecture

Chochliouros

Vardakas

Verikoukis

et al. 2023

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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5G mobile networks will soon be available to handle all types of applications and to provide services to massive numbers of users. In this complex and dynamic network ecosystem, an end-to-end performance analysis and optimisation will be "key" features to effectively manage the diverse requirements imposed by multiple vertical industries over the same shared infrastructure. To enable such a challenging vision, the MARSAL EU-funded project [1] targets the development and evaluation of a complete framework for the management and orchestration of network resources in 5G and beyond by utilizing a converged optical-wireless network infrastructure in the access and fronthaul/midhaul segments. In this paper, we present the network architecture of the MARSAL, as well as how the experimentation scenarios are mapped to the considered architecture.

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